Ancient Rome as a Museum

Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting

Steven Rutledge

Description

In antiquity, Rome represented one of the world's great cultural capitals. The city constituted a collective repository for various commemoratives, cultural artefacts, and curiosities, not to mention plunder taken in war, and over its history became what we might call a "museum city." Ancient Rome as a Museum considers how cultural objects and memorabilia both from Rome and its empire came to reflect a specific Roman identity and, in some instances, to even construct or challenge Roman perceptions of power and of the self. In this volume, Rutledge argues that Roman cultural values and identity are indicated in part by what sort of materials Romans deemed worthy of display and how they chose to display, view, and preserve them.

Grounded in the growing field
of museum studies, this book includes a discussion on private acquisition of cultural property and asks how well the Roman community at large understood the meaning and history behind various objects and memorabilia. Of particular importance was the use of collections by a number of emperors in the further establishment of their legitimacy and authority.

Through an examination of specific cultural objects, Rutledge questions how they came to reflect or even perpetuate Roman values and identity.

Ancient Rome as a Museum

Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting

Steven Rutledge

Table of Contents

List of MapsList of IllustrationsModern AbbreviationsAncient Abbreviations1. Introduction: Museums and Muses2. Collecting and Acquisition3. Viewing, Appreciating, Understanding4. Displaying Domination: Spoils, War Commemoratives, and Competition5. Constructing Social Identity: Pietas, Women, and the Roman House6. The Monster and the Map7. Imperial Collections and the Narrative of the Princeps8. Access and Upkeep9. EpilogueBibliographyIndex

Ancient Rome as a Museum

Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting

Steven Rutledge

Author Information

Steven H. Rutledge is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is author of Imperial Inquisitions: Prosecutors and Informants from Tiberius to Domitian), and the author of numerous articles on Roman history and culture.

Ancient Rome as a Museum

Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting

Steven Rutledge

Reviews and Awards

"Classicists will appreciate Rutledge's attention to historical detail, but his greater contribution is to the history and culture of museums and collecting. The author's consideration of the daily interactions between a city's works and its inhabitants' lives takes that to a scale not often attempted. Finally, the examination of power and constructed identities as an integral element in understanding a material culture--and vice versa--is superbly and clearly articulated. Highly recommended."--F.W. Gleach, CHOICE